Trial reportEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2009
No effect of fish oil supplementation on serum inflammatory markers and their interrelationships: a randomized controlled trial in healthy, middle-aged individuals.
Trial report in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Long-term effects of increasing omega-3, omega-6 and total polyunsaturated fats on inflammatory bowel disease and markers of inflammation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.European journal of nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Evidence-based nutritional and pharmacological interventions targeting chronic low-grade inflammation in middle-age and older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Ageing research reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of omega-3 supplementation on psychological symptoms in men with prostate cancer: Secondary analysis of a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial.Cancer medicine · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Mechanistic insights into the health benefits of fish-oil supplementation against fine particulate matter air pollution: a randomized controlled trial.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2022Trial
- An Oily Fish Diet Improves Subclinical Inflammation in People at High Cardiovascular Risk: A Randomized Controlled Study.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Trial
- Effect of prenatal EPA and DHA on maternal and umbilical cord blood cytokines.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2018Trial
- Supplementation with eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid reduces high levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines in aging adults: A randomized, controlled study.Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and essential fatty acids · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Fish oil supplementation does not lower C-reactive protein or interleukin-6 levels in healthy adults.Journal of internal medicine · 2016Trial
- Effects of oral eicosapentaenoic acid versus docosahexaenoic acid on human peripheral blood mononuclear cell gene expression.Atherosclerosis · 2015Trial
- Effects of supplemental long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and erythrocyte membrane fatty acid content on circulating inflammatory markers in a randomized controlled trial of healthy adults.Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and essential fatty acids · 2014Trial
- Low- and high-dose plant and marine (n-3) fatty acids do not affect plasma inflammatory markers in adults with metabolic syndrome.The Journal of nutrition · 2011Trial
- Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids And Adipose Tissue Inflammation: Longitudinal Analysis in the PROMISE Cohort.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Article
- The regulation of inflammation-related genes after palmitic acid and DHA treatments is not mediated by DNA methylation.Journal of physiology and biochemistry · 2019Article
- Impact of Blood or Erythrocyte Membrane Fatty Acids for Disease Risk Prediction: Focusing on Cardiovascular Disease and Chronic Kidney Disease.Nutrients · 2018Review
- Article
- Serum Phospholipid Docosahexaenoic Acid Is Inversely Associated with Arterial Stiffness in Metabolically Healthy Men.Clinical nutrition research · 2016Article
- Role of fish oil in human health and possible mechanism to reduce the inflammation.Inflammopharmacology · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA high intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), mainly present in fish, may be associated with decreased inflammation. Previous intervention studies on fish PUFA and inflammatory markers in healthy individuals did not analyze a broad spectrum of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and cell adhesion molecules, or their interrelationships. Therefore, we determined the effects of fish oil supplementation on 19 serum inflammatory markers and their interrelationships in healthy, middle-aged individuals.
methodsIndividuals (n=77) aged 50-70 years completed a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled intervention study. Participants received 3.5 g/day fish oil (1.5 g/day total n-3 PUFA) (n=39) or placebo (high oleic sunflower oil) (n=38) for 12 weeks. Serum concentrations of 19 inflammatory markers were determined using a multiplex immunoassay before and after intervention. Changes in concentrations were analyzed using analysis of covariance and differences in patterns in inflammatory markers between the fish oil and placebo group were analyzed by principal component analysis.
resultsFish oil supplementation did not significantly affect serum concentrations of cytokines, chemokines or cell adhesion molecules as compared with placebo. However, there was a trend for all inflammatory markers to increase after fish oil supplementation. PCA did not result in markedly distinctive patterns of inflammatory markers for the fish oil and placebo group.
conclusionIn conclusion, this 12-week randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled intervention trial did not show that 1.5 g/day n-3 PUFA significantly affected the serum inflammatory response in healthy individuals, nor did patterns of inflammatory markers. Thus, a healthy middle-aged population may not benefit from fish oil as an anti-inflammatory agent.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.